Computer Crimes: Legal Technique Issues

Abstract

The articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation that provide for criminal liability for computer crimes are imperfect both in the context of legal technique and in terms of criminal policy. The elements of crimes are defined casuistically, which significantly complicates the application of the law. The consequences of crimes are defined without taking into account the social values protected by law and the harm caused by these crimes. The definition of the illegality of the act is not disclosed in the law, in practice there is also no uniformity in its interpretation, which results in an unjustified expansion of repression. People do not realize the criminality of their actions, which is negative in the context of criminal policy. Changes to the current criminal law are proposed: to construct the elements of crimes as formal (conduct crimes); to define the illegality of access to computer information as access to it without the permission of the computer owner; to define the harmfulness of a computer program as the purpose of making unauthorized changes to information on a computer belonging to another person.